After the truth about Xiao Lingye and his five business partners was revealed, it quickly spread throughout the entire campus.
Many people were shocked by this truth.
No one expected that it was really the five partners who joined hands to frame Xiao Lingye. Well, that was not entirely true either. Each of them had individually sold the company secrets without telling each other and then joined hands to frame Xiao Lingye.
The school naturally wouldn’t choose to ignore the actions of Su Yang, Qiao Ruoyang, and others.
Most of the teachers and professors in the school admired a talent like Xiao Lingye. Who wouldn’t like such a handsome, smart, capable, and talented student?
Although Xiao Lingye came from the countryside, he had been able to persuade others to start a company since his sophomore year. In just two years, the development of the company was obvious to everyone.
Xiao Lingye had turned from a young man from the countryside into a person with a small fortune. With time, his achievements would definitely be more eye-catching.
Therefore, the school attached great importance to Xiao Lingye.
Since Xiao Lingye was framed, the school naturally had to take certain measures against the five main culprits who framed him. The culprits definitely couldn’t stay at Imperial University anymore.
Their family had a certain family background in Beijing, and they used pressure to demand that their children not be expelled. If they were expelled from the school, not only would their future be affected, but their family would also lose face.
But what kind of school was Imperial University? It was the number one school in China. It nurtured all kinds of people, and the country’s top leaders were all from Imperial University.
So, would the school be afraid of a few trifling family forces?
In the end, Su Yang, Qiao Ruoyang, and the others were disgraced and expelled.
But they weren’t willing to accept it.
They had framed Xiao Lingye because of that woman, Jiang Shuyu. In the end, they were expelled from the school, but she was unharmed.
As for the company, it was their private property, so the school naturally wouldn’t interfere.
At three o’clock in the afternoon, the auction of Xiao Lingye’s shares officially began.
In the beginning, Li Fei technology company also intended to participate in the competition, but manager Zhang gave up on the competition when he got the notes from his superior.
Without Xiao Lingye, the company would be like a ship without any direction. It would only sway in the sea of commerce and eventually collapse. It could fall into the sea at any time and never get up again.
Therefore, without Xiao Lingye, there was no point in bidding for the company.
However, there were still many rich and powerful students in the university. They had always envied Su Yang and the others for being able to start a company on their own, and it was a company with a bright future.
Now, the opportunity was right in front of them. If they could bid for Xiao Lingye’s shares, then they would immediately become the majority shareholders of the company.
These people saw the current development trend of Teng Fei technology company, but they did not think that this trend was created by the company’s former majority shareholder, Xiao Lingye.
Of course, some of their classmates could also think of this.
However, the reason why they participated in the auction was that they had other plans.
They planned to become the majority shareholder of Teng Fei technology company. Then, when the time came, they would hire Xiao Lingye back. That would really be killing two birds with one stone. They had good dreams, but they didn’t consider if Xiao Lingye was willing to come back to the company or not.
Xiao Lingye owned 20% of the shares of the company. With the current market value of 22 million, Xiao Lingye’s shares were worth 4.4 million.
Xiao Lingye started the auction with a starting price of 2 million.
Looking at the meeting room that was filled with people, Xiao Lingye could not help but let out a sarcastic smile, especially when he saw that Su Yang and the others were also sitting in the meeting room. Their skin was really thick after they became businessmen.
Xiao Lingye did not restrict them from entering. In fact, Xiao Lingye’s goal was to sell these shares to them.
Teng Fei technology company was just like the child he raised. He could not give his own child to someone else.
He believed it was the same for the other founders.
Xiao Lingye stood in front of the meeting room and said, “The auction of the shares in my hands begins. The starting price is two million. Each bid will be increased by 50,000. There is no maximum bid.”
Many people estimated that Xiao Lingye’s shares were worth around four million. Now that the starting price was just two million, many people were eager to give it a try.
Their families were not short of money, and many of them were even the heirs of their families. Perhaps they did not like this small company, but this company could give them some management experience. Plus, it would look good for them.
“2.2 million!”
“2.5 million!”
“3 million!”
“4 million!”
“4.2 million!” Su Yang shouted the price.
“4.3 million!” Qiao Ruoyang said directly.
“4.8 million!” Chu Xiangbei gritted his teeth and shouted.
…
In the end, only five people were left to compete with the others.
The price was already higher than the market value of the company’s shares.
But even so, the five of them still had to buy the shares.
They had single-handedly founded the company, so why should they hand it to others? The new shareholder would even be the major shareholder.
“5,000,000!” Someone shouted again.
When he heard that, Su Yang frowned, then, he discussed with the other four people, “The value of Xiao Lingye’s shares is already higher than the market value. This company was founded by us. I don’t think any of you want to have an outsider as the major shareholder.
“However, the price is already higher than our expectations. My suggestion is that the five of us first buy these shares together and then, we divide them equally. How about it? This is better than letting an outsider benefit, right?”
After listening to Su Yang’s suggestion, the other four pondered for a moment and then agreed. After all, this was their own company. If they let others interfere arbitrarily, not only would they feel uncomfortable, but their rights and interests in the company would also be violated.
Therefore, their goal now was to be united against the outside world. As for what happened after that, that was their internal matter.
When the bid reached 5.6 million, the price still showed signs of rising. Su Yang represented everyone and directly shouted, “6 million!”
When the bid reached 6 million, the five of them felt their hearts bleed.
In the past, they could have bought Xiao Lingye’s shares for 4 million, but now they had to buy them back at an additional price of at least 2 million.
When Su Yang bid six million, there were only two or three people left.
As long as there was one more person, the auction would continue.
Among these three people, two of them really wanted to enter Teng Fei technology company, but one of them did not like the way Su Yang and the others acted, so he took part in the competition.
“Seven million!” Su Yang gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Seven million two hundred thousand!” The person shouted.
“Seven million three hundred thousand!” Su Yang said.
“Seven million five hundred thousand!”
“Seven million six hundred thousand!”
“Seven million nine hundred thousand!”
“Eight million!” Su Yang shouted again. Then, he looked at the person who took part in the competition with a sharp look and said through gritted teeth, “Ge Qingping, what are you doing? If you’re really interested in joining our company, fine. How about selling our shares to you for eight million?”
Ge Qingping raised his eyebrows and spread his hands. “I’m not interested in your shares. Fine, I won’t bid anymore. You’ve won. Congratulations.”
“So, you never thought about owning these shares, did you?” Su Yang came back to his senses, and his eyes were about to spit fire, “You’ve been playing with us and deliberately inflating the bidding price, right?”
Ge Qingping shrugged his shoulders carelessly and said with a mischievous smile, “You can think whatever you want. But congratulations, you got it right.”
“Ge Qingping, you’ve gone too far!” Qiao Ruoyang and the others said indignantly.
“Have I gone too far?” Ge Qingping said, without any self-awareness, “Did I force you to participate in the auction? No, right?”
So what if he did it on purpose? If they felt the price was too high, they could have surrendered. But they had to fight for the bid with him.
Su Yang, Qiao Ruoyang, and the others were so angry that their faces turned green and white. They were extremely embarrassed.
Xiao Lingye had been watching from the side and did not participate in their conversation.
He knew that Su Yang and the others would definitely not allow his shares to be sold to others.
After all, half of their cake would be taken away by an outsider. As people who cared about profits, how could they be willing?
However, Xiao Lingye was also quite surprised by the outcome of the auction. He had initially estimated that the best price would be between five to six million. He did not expect that it would actually be eight million.
Looking at Su Yang and the others, Xiao Lingye felt a little pity for them. But they had brought this upon themselves.
In the end, Xiao Lingye sold the 20% shares that were originally worth four million to Su Yang and the others for eight million.
When the five of them saw the terms of the agreement, they were about to vomit blood.
But no matter what, they had to buy these shares back.
After signing the contract, the five people who remained in the office immediately had an internal conflict.
Pang Dayue directly said with a cold smile, “What did I say back then? I said that we should just buy the shares in Xiao Lingye’s hands and get it over with. There wouldn’t be so much trouble later on. But now, not only do we have to spend twice the original price to buy back these shares, but we also fail to ruin Xiao Lingye’s reputation. Instead, we have ruined our own reputation. Su Yang, you’re amazing!”
Dai Yimin echoed, “Su Yang, this is your idea. You said that we could ruin Xiao Lingye’s reputation and that we could get these shares without spending a single cent. Su Yang, you have to compensate us for these losses!”
The school had yet to come to a conclusion on how to deal with them, but it would not be a good result. The lightest punishment might be a warning, and the most serious punishment might be expulsion.
This matter would probably be notified to their families soon. They had to select a scapegoat. Obviously, this person could only be Su Yang.
Because it was Su Yang who came up with all these ideas, and it was also Su Yang who invited their sworn enemy to come to the school to testify for them.
That was fine if their sworn enemy didn’t turn on them. That was why they were in their sorry state.
“Yes, Su Yang. If you had not taken the initiative to invite manager Zhang from Li Fei, we would not have been exposed,” Chu Xiangbei said in embarrassment, “Now, our reputations are ruined. Who would be willing to associate with us in the future?”
After today, the five of them had become infamous on campus. No, it was more than the campus. They had become infamous in the capital.
Thinking of this, Chu Xiangbei’s vision turned black.
He had not only embarrassed himself, but he had also embarrassed his entire family.
“Su Yang, it was your bad idea that led us to this result. So, you must compensate us for our losses. Don’t even think about getting 20% of the shares!” Qiao Ruoyang said with a very serious expression.
When Su Yang heard their words, his expression was dark.
He retorted, “When I first came up with these ideas, you all agreed. Now that the situation has turned out this way, you want to push all the blame onto me. In your dreams!”
Just as Qiao Ruoyang was about to retort, Su Yang said with a sneer, “The framing of Xiao Lingye aside, all of you have participated in the selling of company secrets. I was merely the unlucky one to be exposed.”
Speaking up to this point, Su Yang paused for a moment. Then, his expression turned into mockery and ridicule. He pointed at them one by one and said sarcastically, “If it weren’t for manager Zhang exposing all of you, I would have really thought that I was the only one who sold the new technology that Xiao Lingye developed to them. This is really funny. I thought that it was a flawless matter, but in the end, they took precautions and turned the tables on us. And…”
His expression changed as he said with a gloomy face, “If you had communicated with me earlier that you have sold the company secrets to Li Fei, at least I would have been prepared. I would have been suspicious, and I wouldn’t have called Manager Zhang over to testify. And now you want to blame me for that?
“You want me to give up my part of the shares?! There’s no way!” Su Yang said angrily.
Qiao Ruoyang and the others were shocked by Su Yang’s words.
Selling the company secrets to frame Xiao Lingye was not a good matter, so why would they tell others?
However, they never expected that every one of them had done the same thing.
The most hateful thing was that the people from Li Fei technology company did not tell them about it.
“That’s not right.” Pang Dayue reacted at this moment and asked in surprise, “Why would all of us do this at the same time? Why would all of us find Li Fei and Manager Zhang to sell the secrets to frame Xiao Lingye?”
When he asked that, Qiao Ruoyang and the others felt their hearts skip a beat, and an answer was on the tip of their tongues.
At this moment, Chu Xiangbei suddenly said, “Don’t tell me… Jiang Shuyu?”
“Yes!”
When the answer came out, the five of them looked at each other in dismay.
“Jiang Shuyu promised me that as long as I chased Xiao Lingye out of the company, she would be my girlfriend.”
“Jiang Shuyu also promised me that as long as I chased Xiao Lingye out of the company, then she would be my girlfriend.”
